ONE of the country's leading cartoonists is now using his artistic skills to help engage North East schoolchildren.

Sunderland-based artist Alex Collier, former co-editor of Viz, is currently creating a series of cartoons for education website Ch-arted, designed to involve pupils in a variety of curriculum-based activities inspired by the Olympic Games.

The 31-year-old has been drawing for more than 16 years and has produced work for a number of national magazines, including Top Gear.

He has been commissioned to create a series of 10 illustrations for the website – www.ch-arted.co.uk – which is run by The Customs House, in South Shields.

Alex said: “I can honestly say that drawing for Ch-arted has been a fun and informative change for me, which aside from being highly enjoyable, has also inadvertently taught me a lot about the Olympic Games.”

Alex’s cartoons, which cover topics such as the Olympic motto Citius, Altius, Fortius – faster, higher, stronger – will be uploaded monthly to www.ch-arted.co.uk, as part of the website’s countdown to the Games in 2012.

As well as his creations, Ch-arted’s Big Countdown, available free to teachers across the UK, will also include a series of activities and factfiles, each designed to spark young people’s interest in the Games and offer an interactive way of covering subjects such as history, citizenship, maths, geography, design, music and art.